Music
From Very Little…
The Atari PONG (1972) arcade game featured only sound effects and no music (depending on the definition…):
To a Lot…
Full orchestral soundtracks with lush string arrangements copying every Hollywood cliché (you can google those).
Back to Simplicity
Games like Inside:
Here are interesting interviews with Martin Stig Andersen, sound designer and composer for Inside and Limbo:
- Control & LIMBO composer Martin Stig Andersen finds beauty inside the darkness
- Audio Design Deep Dive
Distinctive Features of Music in Games
Interactivity and generative music are the two main characteristics differentiating music for games from music for film.
Here is an excellent article on the history of audio and music in video games: How music became an essential ingredient of video games.